Tolling Lives
by riverrae
Summary: Four teens who haven't been in contact with each other for years suddenly come together when a series of coincidences entangle their lives once again as dark secrets and truths are uncovered about even the most seemingly innocent soul. YAOI but not much
1. The Scaling Cat

Disclaimer: I don't own Beyblades, its characters, or anything else related to it. –River Rae

Tolling Lives

The Scaling Cat

The large analogue clock gleamed white reflections of the moon on the face of the National Tokyo Museum. The moonlight streamed through the large smoky glass window revealing a slim dark figure making its way towards the encased glittering diamond upon its fluffy purple cushion. The entire four by four metre area around the jewel was concentrated by thousands of invisible infra-red beams, ready to trigger a silent alarm the moment any object entered that area. The slim figure had the stereotypical resemblance of a thief; head wrapped up in black cloth, skin tight black body suit; the dark glasses covering the eyes. As the figure slowly made its way towards the security-covered glimmering diamond it failed to notice the shadow that was slowly creeping behind it. The shadow prepared its silencer on the small hand gun it wore around its belt. As it assumed to aim the gun towards it intended victim, the thief advanced towards the security zoned area around the diamond. Looking as if it would walk straight into the trap alarm, the thief jerked towards the right and leapt several feet into the air and landed right in front of the jewel, completely avoiding the trap. The shadow froze; a second later he would have killed his intended victim had he not hesitated; now one main stage of his plan was completed without any effort on his behalf. He almost laughed at his luck if it wasn't for the fact that he didn't want to be exposed to his victim. The intruder stepped back into the shadows, blending in so well that he had to place a pair of glasses over his eyes to hide the yellow glare. However, the initial thief was blissfully unaware of how close he had come to death. All he was concerned with right now was the jewel that he now held in his hands. Leaping over the infra-red beams for the second time (a good five feet into the air) the thief proceeded towards the entrance he'd made for himself in the large window of the museum. Unaware that he was being followed, the thief continued applying the safety harness that would allow his safe descent to the ground from three stories up. The shadow found this a very convenient hand that fate had thrown his way. He chose this time now to make his move.

Without making a noise the shadow crept his way along the moonlit path on the tiled floor to the thief. The thief felt a sudden chill along his spine and turned to feel the back of a black figure's fist contact the side of his skull.

The shadow, who was now revealed in the moonlight to be a similarly clad figure, quickly grabbed hold of the limp body before it hit the ground three stories below. As it dragged the thief back inside it searched the unconscious body for the prized diamond. The bandit found the jewel and held it up in the moonlight. As the moon beams were magnified and scattered around the deserted corridor as if by a disco ball the bandit's eyes shone yellow and cat-like with glee. It quickly hid it in the black bag around its waist and looked at the unconscious body of the first thief, wondering what to do with it.

After making its decision the former thief's body was flung out of the window and was heard to hit the ground three stories below with a satisfying _thud_. The bandit smiled and set about fixing the safety harness and the accompanying equipment to look like an accident on the former thief's behalf. After five minutes the bandit looked at his work and was satisfied. He reapplied the sticky gloves and proceeded to scale the outside of the building until he reached the roof; five stories up. From here he had a great view of his handiwork. Below him on the ground was the crumpled form of the thief who had lost the valuable diamond, which was now safely hidden in the waist bag worn by the bandit. He would have taken a picture if it wouldn't have been incriminating evidence.

A single clear, resounding toll announced the half-hour. 4:30 a.m.

_Anyway, time to go home, sun's almost rising…_

;.; 

Max was happily walking down the footpath, snuggled under the arm of his boyfriend Tyson, when he was reflecting on how beautiful the day was. The sun was yet to shine its brilliant yellow; the grass was a glossy damp green with morning dew; he had his love right next to him and they were going for ice-cream early in the morning. Life was great.

"What flavour do you want, Maxie?" asked Tyson when they reached the Ice-Creamery corner shop.

"Um…" Max looked at all the flavours that the shop had to sell. What should he choose? Today didn't feel like a caramel day, not a chocolate one either, nor cinnamon swirl… "You choose first Tyson."

"No, I want to choose mine based on what you choose," Tyson said.

Max looked up at his boyfriend. "Why?"

"Because I want to choose a flavour that matches my love for you," Tyson smiled. Then he laughed "Don't question the logic," he said happily to the ice-cream vendor.

Max smiled. "OK, I'll pick the Almond Swirl with Rainbow Sprinkles." Max waited to see what Tyson would choose.

Tyson laughed. "OK, I'll choose the Rainbow Swirl with Almond Sprinkles," he said.

After Tyson paid for their ice-creams they started walking along the footpath and admiring the flowers. After a while, Max had to ask "Tyson, how does Rainbow Swirl with Almond Sprinkles match Almond Swirl with Rainbow Sprinkles? I thought that that would be the exact opposite to mine?"

"Well," Tyson started. "It's kind of hard to explain but I'll give it a go. If I were to choose the opposite of yours I would have chosen Fruit Plain with Black Topping. But choosing the same _Ingredients_ as you, but not the same _method_, is my way of saying that I want to be with you and whatever you are, but not the same way. I mean, if we're two the same then we're not a whole. If we're kind of different, but matching, we are a whole. Like a puzzle," seeing the confused look on the younger boy's face he added, blushing: "Just trust me; I'm an expert on food"

Tyson's blush went even redder as his lips were met by Max's own. Five minutes later they continued walking down their path.

"Hey Tyson," Max said in the voice he always used to get what he wanted with Tyson. "Can we go past the museum? Apparently they've got a new display outside and since no one else is up this early maybe we could see it without the long line?"

Since Tyson was no historical enthusiast and learning something was not on his 'To Do…' list. But if it was for Max, and when he used his special voice, Tyson would endure hours of lecturing and learning torture for him.

"OK, but we'd better hurry up; it is 4:28 and the Museum opens at 5 a.m." Tyson said just to see the look of joy on Max's face.

Discarding the empty ice-cream cone, Max took off towards the Museum, challenging Tyson to a race. Tyson sprinted to catch up to his love.

Max's laughter was cut as he stopped dead short in his tracks. The small boy was shaking like a leaf and couldn't manage his jaw muscles properly.

"T—t-t-t-t-t Tyson…" he mouthed before letting out an ear-piercing scream.

A single clear, resounding toll announced the half-hour. 4:30 a.m.

;.; 

The sky was a bright blue and the birds were singing their morning melody. The sky was too bright; the birds too loud. Ragged children ran past the shop window; their laughter was elated and the people inside the shop chatted quietly. Distorted midgets ambled past the hazy glass windows; voices warped around him as people with twisted features stared at him and glared. As if he had been sucked into a warped world and life so unlike his own, there was a feeling of such happiness that he felt no need to wake up to reality at this ungodly hour of the morning…

…"_kai.."…_

Hopefully that little annoying voice in his head would go away and leave him alone…

"_..hey…wake up.."_

Why didn't life itself give such an ecstatic happiness?...

"_Hey, wake up… dude…"_

He squeezed his eyes closed tighter; trying to block out the twisted face and the warped voice…

"KAI!"

"What…?"

Reality sunk in slowly; the face in front of his taking shape after he opened his eyes. The image began to swim and flicker before the obscure image began to resemble the face of someone he knew…

"Hey, man, were you getting high again? I told you that's nasty stuff," Joey said, slapping Kai's face to wake him up again.

"Hey, I'm awake, OK?" Kai racked his brain to try to remember how he got into this dingy place. The small coffee shop was grimy and smelt of disease and old people. He was seated at a small round table with his back to the wall; Joey had realised the reason for this seating as Kai had been leaning against the filthy brick wall on the rear legs of his chair when he came in. To their left was the hazy window-walled face of the shop, which hosted a soiled and dust encrusted painted sign on the window showing the shadowy side of Tokyo. A long bar table was placed against the large window and was used by the grubby card players and pot smokers who sat, huddled among themselves trading business, on the worn down bar stools. Several other tables like the one at which Kai sat were scattered around the cramped space that consisted of the small business coffee shop. To Kai's right was the bar, which fed its occupants the 'life-giving' liquid they craved to allow them to slowly drift into unconsciousness and to escape their miserable reality. The bartender stood there with his gapped grin that tormented his latest customer. Joey looked at the bartender wiping a huge glass with a suspiciously soiled rag and felt sick. This fleapit was for the dregs of the hopeless, not his best mate. Trying not to breathe in the fungi that he was sure was amassing in the air, Joey urged his friend out of the dingy shot.

"C'mon, Kai, "Joey said. "Let's get outta this fleapit."

Kai rubbed his blood-shot eyes and tried to rise from the chair. His arms wobbled as he used them to lift his wait and he landed back on his seat. The bartender let out an indifferent and mirthless laugh that rattled his throat.

"Same time next week, eh Hiwatari?" he sniggered as Kai passed him, supported by Joey. Joey turned and flipped the bartender the finger before kicking open the corroded door. The bartender let out another laugh that echoed after them as they left 'The High Shot Coffee Bar'.

The two of them walked on in silence for a while; Joey supporting Kai and contemplating his friend's dead-end predicament, Kai trying unsuccessfully to battle a raging migraine. After several blocks it was Joey who broke the silence.

"Kai, man, what did I tell you about that dump? I thought you were off 'pot'…"

"It wasn--- BLAUGH---" Kai had to stop mid sentence to bring up his breakfast from earlier that morning. "It wasn't pot, Joey…"

"Well, it definitely wasn't happy gas, was it?" Joey said sarcastically. Then, seeing the state his friend was in, said: "What I mean is, whatever it was, it didn't do you any good. Look at the state you're in!"

They continued walking in further silence. "So what was it, anyway?" Joey asked.

"A new drink that Harry was trying to sell on the market. Harry said that he needed someone to test it for him, apparently there were a few things he needed to sort out with it."

"I'll say…" Joey muttered, but he let Kai continue.

"I told him where he could stick his drink, but he said that he'd give me five thousand yen and I was curious as to what effect it would have on me," Kai said.

"That's dangerous for your condition and it's not like you needed the money, Kai! Your parents left you more money than the bloody British Monarchy," Joey cried.

"Yeah, I know, Joe. But Boris has friggin cut off my bloody allowance to the damn bank account!" It was rare that Kai showed this much emotion so strongly about anything so Joey stayed quiet. "Sorry, Joe," Kai apologised for his outburst. "I just hate that frigging idiot…"

They had reached Kai's apartment building. "Thanks, Joe," Kai mumbled as he retrieved his arm from around Joey's shoulders. Kai stood for a moment, arms out for balance, and gave a confident smile as he stayed upright.

"Are you sure that you can tackle those bloody stairs? Make sure you take the elevator, you can barely stand. Are you sure you're right to find your place?" Joey was hesitant to leave his best friend in his drunken state. Blind as a maggot and wrenching up his guts, Kai was in no state to negotiate his way up sixty five stories of stairs. Even if he chose the elevator, it was more than likely that Kai would collapse into a coma before the lift stopped at his floor.

"Joey, I'm fine," Kai announced before stumbling backwards and gripping the brick wall of the building to avoid landing on his backside. Joey helped him back up and steered him in the direction of the door, inside and towards the stairs. "I don't need any help. See you tomorrow, Joe," Kai mumbled, ambling towards the stairs.

"OK, see you tomorrow, man," Joey called after the ascending drunken figure. Joey exited through the screeching plastic doors.

Kai went up and up and up and round and round and round and backwards, onto his back, stood up again and retraced his steps back up the spiral stairs that hugged the light blue-green walls. Kai stumbled on in his trial up the remaining forty stories of stairs. On the forty-fifth story his stomach finally emptied itself of all food. He collapsed onto his knees and spewed up bile. After five minutes of regurgitation his stomach had nothing left to give. Kai looked up at the grimy and stained window before collapsing onto his side and passed out.

Not so far away in Tokyo, a single clear, echoing toll announced the second half of the hour; 4:30 a.m.

;.; 

-River Rae


	2. Recollection

For those who didn't realise it in the first chapter, Joey was Joey Wheeler from Yu-Gi-Oh!

Disclaimer: I don't own Beyblades, its characters, or anything else related to it, nor do I own any mentioned Yu-Gi-Oh! characters in this story. –River Rae

Recollection

It was mid-morning by the time Detective Rei Kon had arrived at the crime scene. It had been four and a half hours since the body had been found outside the National Tokyo Museum by two teens at some ungodly hour of the morning, something around 4:30 am. Nobody had claimed to have seen the body killed; somebody had only thought to have rung the police about an hour ago. Rei sighed as he pulled on his cap. This was going to be another tough case on his hands.

"Here we are," announced the officer driving the police vehicle.

"Thanks, Bryan," Rei sighed again. As Rei opened the door of the car, he put on his pair of Oakleys sunglasses to hide his yellow slitted eyes; it usually wasn't a good idea to have an easily identifiable feature in his profession. Thank God he didn't need to wear the uniform; it was stinking hot today. Rei stretched around the passenger seat and grabbed a large black body-bag from the back seat.

"Crowd Control?" the lavender-haired officer asked.

"Yeah," Rei grinned, "Crowd Control."

"You want me to wait around or come with you, Rei?" Bryan asked.

"No, I'll be fine, thanks Bryan," Rei smiled as he left the car.

Bryan chuckled as he drove away. Rei often liked to do his work solo. Strange, but Bryan could see the logic in it; no one was there to distract your thoughts.

Rei waved to Bryan as he drove away. Bryan was a nice guy, but he didn't want anyone helping him on this case. It involved Rei in more ways than one. Turning around, Rei headed off towards the large gaggle of hypochondriac group of people who were being madly opposed by two stout policemen, which he suspected was the crime scene. He had to push and shove (and claw) his way towards the centre of the group where a small area was squared off by orange tape that read 'Police Area, Please Do Not Cross, Please Do Not Panic'. It seemed that these people were doing the exact opposite of the recommendation of not panicking. Rei was almost to the tape with but one obstacle blocking his way; a large woman of gigantic proportion who was madly waving her hands about as if attempting to fly.

_Flying quite unsuccessfully too, by the way,_ Rei thought as he poked her in the middle of her flabby back with his cat-like nails.

The huge woman paused as she felt a slight tingle in her back. Rei seized his chance and slipped past her Godzilla-sized behind and limboed under the orange tape.

"I'm terribly sorry, sir, but you'll have to get back under that tape!" a much stressed officer practically screamed into Rei's neck.

"I'm Detective Kon from the Japanese Investigations and Services Squad. I'm here to report on the body?" Rei flashed his ID card for the officer to see.

"Oh, thank God for that! I'm John Kavosky. Is there anyone else here with you? This crowd is really getting out of control…" the stout officer looked hopefully around Rei's muscular build.

Rei laughed. "Don't worry, John. I got all the Crowd Control we need right here," Rei patted the body-bag hung like a normal bag over his chest.

John looked quizzically at the detective. What the hell was he gonna do with a … _body bag?!?!?_ "B-b-b-but, sir! I've got enough to handle already without a couple of more corpses…"

"It's alright, John," Rei said as he laid the bag on the ground and unzipped it. "I'm taking charge here, just stand by and take note for next time, OK?" Rei casually pulled out a double barrelled shotgun from the bag and calmly loaded the ammunition with great care. Standing up straight, Rei pulled the trigger and fired several shots into the air.

"PEOPLE!"

The crowd immediately fell silent. They gaped in fright at the young man who now held a fully loaded shotgun aimed at the crowd.

From his hastened position on the ground with his hands over his head, John Kavosky could only wonder at why the crowd hadn't panicked even more at the gunfire and run for the hills (or for a six inch steel bunker). _But then again, _thought John,_ I wouldn't be making any sudden movements with this guy firing shots so randomly. Oh, God, how much worse can my day get?_

Now that the crowd was under control, Rei took a deep breath so that all could hear.

"The next one to even so much as sneeze without being asked by me will end up with a gaping hole in them. I've got a body bag here, so don't make me use it, OK?" Rei relaxed.

The crowd was stunned, to say the least.

Thinking that everything was going great, Rei continued. "Great. 'Morning everyone, my name is Detective Rei Kon, and I work for the Japanese Investigations and Services Squad. I am here to investigate the corpse found here this morning and I would appreciate it if you would all just shut your mouths for a few minutes while my fellow officers and I sort the situation out. Everything is under control as the situation is in the hands of JISS. Those who _do_ have information that would be of value to me and the officers, please stay behind. Everybody else, please do go about your business".

As there was a murmur of discontentment from those who wished to stay and watch the body be investigated, Rei cocked the shotgun again, loudly. "I don't want to fill up the other spare bags in the car either," he warned.

At that, everyone got the hint and left rather hurriedly. The only ones who remained was the large woman who had blocked Rei's path, a rather bald and short man in a suit and tie with shifty nervous eyes, a small five-year-old with cute blonde ringlets sucking on an oversized lollypop, a skinny guy with greasy dark hair and a hooked nose wearing a milkman's uniform and a young woman wearing a corporate executive suit.

Rei casually slung the shotgun over his shoulder and walked towards the two officers, noticing the two teens who were well within the orange tape, one of which was undergoing serious calming therapy, the other was angrily waving his fists and shouting while trying to calm down his blonde boyfriend. _They look familiar, no, is that Max and Tyson…? It's been a while…_

Rei beckoned to John Kavosky.

"Walk with me, John," Rei said, starting to pace around the crime scene. "How is it that a body can not be noticed until 9 am with a stench that bad?"

"Our experts say that the body's been there for several hours already, most likely four and a half, found by two teens around 4:30 am this morning. From what we could make out, the two boys had been taking a nice stroll before sunrise when the body just dropped from above. Traumatised the youngest blonde boy and alerted his boyfriend to the body. Then the midnight-blue-haired boy called for help, but as you'd expect, found no one around at that early hour. Wasn't until an hour later that some milkman, doing his early rounds, caught the older boy's attention. He didn't want to leave the other kid alone, who was now in hysterical tears, so he threw the nearest thing he could at the milk truck-"

"And I suppose that was the brick embedded in the truck over there?" Rei nodded towards the milk truck with an orange brick embedded in its side.

"-yeah, he got a pretty good shot," John said in awe. "Anyway, the milko got real angry at the blue-haired kid and that started an argument that lasted for half an hour."

_Sounds like Tyson, just the way he used to argue with…_ Rei mused.

"So then it was 6am when the large woman over there-"

_Godzilla, _Rei thought.

"-happened to come by on her way back from the bakery. She was carrying so many pastries and bags that she didn't see the milko and almost crushed the poor bloke to death as she tripped on him. Well, that got her fired up because she'd just squashed about half a week's pay in pastries. So then there's a three-way argument going on for another hour," John sighed. "I can't believe these peoples' stupidity sometimes…"

"I try my best to forgive them…" Rei commented.

"By 7am that little girl came by with her mother, some big corporate executive, who absolutely freaked when she saw this corpse in the middle of a flower bed outside the museum. Anyway, she demanded an explanation and that took another hour. Then the little girl had the brilliant idea to use her mother's mobile to call the cops. So, from 8 am till now, I guess we blame it on the bloody communications system at JISS office, eh?" John laughed.

"Oh, I'm partly to blame for that, it took me a while to get ready and drag my arse out of bed. Had a pretty late night last night," Rei laughed, scratching the back of his head.

"Must have been a late night. What, a party or something?"

"Yeah, just a catch-up that me and my mate were having. He was going through some career issues in his life, so I gave him a push in the right direction," Rei laughed.

"Must have been one hell of a party, then," Kavosky said. "So, I guess you get the great pleasure of questioning the witnesses then? Man, I pity you…"

Rei sighed. "Yeah, but first I want to talk to the two teens who first found the body".

"Righto, I'll just be over here if you need me," John said with a nod.

Rei made his way over to the couple who were seated on a bench well within the orange tape, but out of range of the stink that the body was now giving off. Tyson was rubbing his boyfriend on the back, trying to calm down a sobbing Max while shouting at the top of his voice, demanding answers as to what the hell was happening and why a body just dropped out of the sky in front of them. The blonde-haired boy next to Tyson had always been a sensitive child ever since his mother had officially left him to work for Biovolt.

Rei cleared his throat.

Tyson looked up angrily, expecting to see Kavosky with another excuse as to why the detective wasn't here yet, but instead saw:

"Rei!"

Max looked up from crying. He blinked his bloodshot eyes, trying to bring his last image of Rei to his mind so that he could compare it to the older teen that he now saw before him. Rei had changed a lot since the Bladebreakers had last been together. He had grown so much taller and looked to be in his twenties, even though Max knew he should be about nineteen. He had gained much more muscle tone, although he wasn't huge. The Neko-Jin still kept his hair long and in a cat-like plait down his back tied with a Chinese-style white ribbon. Behind his dark Oakleys sunglasses Max could just make out Rei's treasured yellow eyes. They seemed to faintly glow from behind their dark shady screen. The next thing to catch Max's eye was Rei's choice of clothing these days. In place of his traditional Chinese garments the Neko-Jin had chosen a 'Billabong' T-shirt with the kanji for _nekojin_ across the top left-hand side of his shirt, much resembling a splash of paint. Dark blue denim jeans went with the outfit, frayed at the ankles. All of this was covered by a large black trench coat. Rei's entire appearance simply oozed confidence, and perhaps, if not for the same heart-warming smile that he flashed Max, intimidation.

"Last time I take the late-night tourist trip," Rei joked in an attempt to cheer Max up.

Max sniffed and let out a small hiccup followed by a smile. _Typical Rei, he can always find a way to make you smile when you're feeling down…_ Max laughed.

"You wanted a detective, Tyson? Well, here you are," Rei slapped Tyson playfully on the shoulder.

"So, you've gonna try to figure this one out, Rei? Hey- since when have _you_ been a cop, let alone a detective! How'd you get through Uni in the short time since we last met-, " Tyson burst out.

"Tyson, it doesn't always take half of your life at University to become a detective!" Rei laughed, "Especially when JISS saw talents such as mine, they simply begged me to join"

"Do you know who did this, Rei?" Max asked in a small voice.

"Sorry, Max," Rei apologised, "we don't yet know who the killer is. It'll probably take a couple of days to find any indication of who it might be."

"So it _was_ a homicide, then?" Max sniffled.

"It looks that way, Max. Of course we've still got to question the other witnesses, well-," Rei glanced over his shoulder, rolling his eyes, "-the 'so-called' witnesses, anyway. Are you guys feeling up to it yet, or do you want to wait until after these guys for the questions?"

"If it's alright with you, Rei, I'd prefer to wait until after. What about you, Maxie?" Tyson rubbed Max on the back, trying to calm away the hiccups now coming from Max's chest.

"OK, hey, why don't we meet up later tonight at a café or some place nicer than here? Then we can talk freely and catch up on a heap of things, what do you think?"

"Yeah, that'd be great!" Tyson said, thinking of the café-quality food already.

"OK, yeah," Max said, trying to give Rei his happiest smile.

"Good. Here, I'll give you guys a note to give to Officer Kavosky to let you out. You guys know the _Sakura Kissaten _(Cherry Blossom Café)? Let's meet up there at 4pm or something?" Rei smiled.

As the two teens left Rei made his way over to the group of witnesses whom he now had the gruelling task of extracting blood from a couple of stones…

A/N: I wrote this second chapter two years ago and thought I should post it… might be good to stick with oneshots from now on, huh?


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